Ephesians 5.1-8 (Epistle)

1Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children. 2Walk in love, even as Christ also loved us and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance.

3But sexual immorality, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned among you, as becomes saints; 4nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not appropriate, but rather giving of thanks.

5Know this for sure, that no sexually immoral person, nor unclean person, nor covetous man (who is an idolater), has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.

6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience. 7Therefore don’t be partakers with them. 8For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,

Galatians 3.8-12 (Epistle, Saturday before Nativity)

8The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all the nations will be blessed.” 9So then, those who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham.

10For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.” 11Now that no man is justified by the law before God is evident, for, “The righteous will live by faith.” 12The law is not of faith, but, “The man who does them will live by them.”

Luke 14.1-11 (Gospel)

1When he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching him. 2Behold, a certain man who had dropsy was in front of him. 3Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

4But they were silent. He took him, and healed him, and let him go. 5He answered them, “Which of you, if your son or an ox fell into a well, wouldn’t immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?”

6They couldn’t answer him regarding these things.

7He spoke a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the best seats, and said to them, 8“When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the best seat, since perhaps someone more honorable than you might be invited by him, 9and he who invited both of you would come and tell you, ‘Make room for this person.’ Then you would begin, with shame, to take the lowest place. 10But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may tell you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Luke 13.18-29 (Gospel, Saturday before Nativity)

18He said, “What is God’s Kingdom like? To what shall I compare it? 19It is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and put in his own garden. It grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the sky live in its branches.”

20Again he said, “To what shall I compare God’s Kingdom? 21It is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

22He went on his way through cities and villages, teaching, and traveling on to Jerusalem.

23One said to him, “Lord, are they few who are saved?” He said to them, 24“Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in and will not be able. 25When once the master of the house has risen up and has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ then he will answer and tell you, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ 26Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27He will say, ‘I tell you, I don’t know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.’ 28There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in God’s Kingdom, and yourselves being thrown outside. 29They will come from the east, west, north, and south, and will sit down in God’s Kingdom.

Repose of Our Holy Father John of Kronstadt (1908)

His main commemoration is on October 19.

Hieromartyr Ignatius the Godbearer

There is a tradition that it was the young boy Ignatius whom Christ took upon his knee to explain to His followers that they must become as children to enter the Kingdom. He knew the holy Apostles personally and, with St Polycarp (February 25) was a disciple of St John the Evangelist. He succeeded Evodus as second Bishop of Antioch, the capital of Syria and at that time one of the largest cities in the world. Here, during the persecutions of Domitian, he strengthened the faithful, brought many pagans to Christ, and prayed that he himself would be granted the crown of martyrdom. His flock called him the Godbearer, a title that he did not refuse, for he said that all Christians after their Baptism are truly Bearers of Christ, clothed in the Holy Spirit.

When peace was restored to the Church for awhile, the holy Bishop devoted himself to organizing the young Church on strong foundations at a time when the last of the Apostles had only recently passed away. He established the principle that the Grace imparted to the Apostles at Pentecost was handed down to the bishops appointed by them, and so on through the generations: the Apostolic Succession.

The Emperor Trajan, passing through Syria to make war in Armenia, spent some time in Antioch and initiated a persecution of Christians. Rejoicing that the time of martyrdom had at last arrived, Ignatius presented himself before the Emperor and eloquently declared his faith in Christ.

“So you are a disciple of the one crucified under Pontius Pilate?” asked the Emperor.

“I am the disciple of Him who has nailed my sin to the Cross, and has trodden the Devil and his devices underfoot.”

“Why do you call yourself the Godbearer?”

“Because I carry the living Christ within me!”

“Therefore, let the bearer of the Crucified One be taken in chains to Rome, there to be fed to the lions for the amusement of the people.”

And so it was. During the long and difficult journey to Rome, cruelly mistreated by his guards, the Saint wrote a series of letters to the young churches which remain one of the treasures of the Church. In Smyrna, he was able to meet with his fellow-disciple Polycarp and entrust to him the care of the churches whose shepherd he had been. As Trajan had ordered, in Rome he was taken to the amphitheater and, as the Synaxarion says, “entered the arena as though approaching the holy altar to serve his last Liturgy in the presence of the faithful, who were crowded among pagans on the steps of the amphitheatre.” In a few moments he was completely devoured by the lions, save for a few bones. These were gathered by the faithful and returned to Antioch.

In his Letter to the Romans, the holy Bishop wrote to some who wished to rescue him from his martyrdom: “I am the wheat of God, and am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found to be the pure bread of God.”